Henry - it was about 1981 or 1982. The substance of my meeting, along with Kini Collins, with whom I was working on the project that eventually became
Old School, is in this
article: about half-way down.
In another chapter, on Higo Ko-ryu, there is an account of an incredible shiai between Abe sensei and Kino sensei of Higo Ko-ryu, at that time, both of whom were probably in their late 70's.
As for being distant cousins, there's a bloodline that more than a few fathers would want to keep their daughters away from
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